Comrades in Arms Discussion Board

Hi, guys,

Does any of you use sound cards? Is there much of a difference from using on-board sound?

I think on-board cards give you better/ more features then dedicated cards these days even if sound quality might differ. Sadly, almost noone bother to check the sound enginge on their MB's when buying so there is a lot of cheap solutions out there. But hey, what's the price on a e.g. SB card with the same features as on-board Realtek chip?

Bullets really started to fly over my head when I bought X-Fi Music, so I think there is a difference (sponsored by Creative). But some games can't take advantage of better hardware, and speakers also have to be of good quality.

Onboard chips improved a lot over the years, still I think they are no match for a sound card. I've used one for years but currently I can't unfortunately, but when the next upgrade is due I will definitely buy a sound card again. Big drawback of onboard sound chips is they use cpu power for their computations. And while I have/had a pretty aged sound card, I'm sure that new sound cards are way better than onboard chips, both in quality and features. I've never had real problems with TeamSpeak (apart from cheap headsets). Since I use onboard I've had nothing but problems. But Misha is right, if you saved money on the speakers, you should start upgrading there, and I'm not talking about 1000$ sound systems.

(01-08-2010, 10:40 PM)Anguis Viridis link Wrote: [ -> ]Hi, guys,

Does any of you use sound cards? Is there much of a difference from using on-board sound?

I don't think that you need a dedicated sound card, not unless you want to edit music or have an urge to become a sound man.

I have integrated Realtek ALC882 on my ASUS P5LD2 but i haven used it. If any of you have comments about this integrated card please post it here.

Instead of it im using old SB Live 5.1 player -soundcard that is connected to A/V-receiver (3.5mm digioutput RCA digital input). That connection does not support 5.1 sounds (only stereo) and thats why I also tried connecting sound card to analog 7.1ch input of the receiver but then there is more restrictions (compared to digital connection) for doing sound adjustments from the receiver but you get 5.1 sounds out from pc games. Problem with this card (and with analog connection) was also that atleast the software did not offer 2.1 setting (only 2.0..) for listening music. 5.1 with music is not the thing i like. 2nd problem with this connection was also that subwoofer level went too low for some reason (that i havent got interest and time to solve yet, probably i would have to tweak sound levels from the 7.1 ch analog input settings from the receiver) and i switched back to digital connection (3.5mm RCA). Its not impossible to play Ofp with only stereo sounds (2.1).

I think i will try to use that Realtek in the close future before buying new sound card because Realtek offers optical S/PDIF output that should support better 5.1 sound signal transfer from pc to AV-receiver and its adjustability.

I have the Creative Fata1ty x-fi sound card. It is such an improvement over the RealTek onboard sound I had. I don't even listen to my home stereo anymore, I just play MP's on my computer. The sound is great.